Recently, in order to reduce air pollution caused by exhaust gas of a vehicle, the vehicle is manufactured on a basis of research on securing a driving force by using an internal combustion engine and/or an electric motor. Accordingly, the vehicle has evolved in an order of a hybrid car, a plug-in hybrid car, and an electric car. In this case, the hybrid vehicle and the plug-in hybrid vehicle include the internal combustion engine, the electric motor and a battery pack, while the electric vehicle includes the electric motor and the battery pack, without the internal combustion engine.
The battery pack has evolved along with the hybrid car, the plug-in hybrid car, and the electric vehicle. The battery pack is configured to be chargeable outside the electric vehicle. The battery pack includes battery cells, an interconnect board (ICB) assembly, and a battery management system (BMS). The battery cells are connected in series or in parallel in the battery pack. The ICB assembly is arranged around the battery cells and transfers to the BMS an electrical signal corresponding to temperature of the battery cell and an electrical signal corresponding to current or voltage of the battery cell during repeated charging and discharging of the battery cells.
The BMS receives electrical signals related to the battery cells from the ICB assembly and controls charging and discharging of the battery cells based on the electrical signals. In this case, the ICB assembly includes bus bars and a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB contacts the bus bars and the bus bars respectively contact the battery cells. In addition, the bus bars are electrically connected to fuses on the PCB in a one-to-one correspondence. The fuse cuts off overcurrent which sequentially passes through the battery cell and the bus bar, and flows into the PCB.
However, since the fuses are arranged on the PCB by the number of the bus bars, the fuses limit pitches of components on the PCB. Accordingly, a length of an electrical path between the bus bar and the fuse may not reduce a size of the PCB. A lot of research has been conducted on the length of the electrical path between the bus bar and the fuse. One example of the researches was disclosed in ‘a battery cell case and a battery pack including the same’, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2014-0095660 (published on Aug. 4, 2014).
The battery cell case includes a support unit and a PCB. The support unit includes connection bus bars wrapping one side of the battery cell and respectively connected to the battery cells. The PCB, which is arranged on a side surface of the support unit and connected to the connection bus bars, transfers information about temperature and voltage of the battery cells to a battery control unit. In this case, the PCB includes fuses which are arranged on side surfaces of the bus bars in a one-to-one correspondence and directly contact the bus bars.
However, since the fuse is arranged on the PCB, the fuse limits an area occupied by the PCB in the battery cell case. Therefore, a conventional art may not contribute to reducing the area occupied by the PCB and thereby, reducing a volume of the battery pack.